12/19/2019
Reason # 5 – Why Christmas Is Non-Christian: Birthday Celebration not a Christian Tradition but Pagan Custom
The Bible records show that of all the customs that God handed to His children of the Old Testament and of all the Christian precepts as enunciated by Christ and the apostles in the New Testament, there is nothing like birthday celebration among the righteous men of old or the Christians of the New Testament.
God’s people did not and do not celebrate birthdays! Only pagans and sinners did and do! The Bible reveals that it is only sinners who celebrate birthdays and their account is found in Genesis 40: 20-23 and Mark 6: 21-29.
The result of these birthdays celebration was abominable! Why did God associate these two birthday celebrations with murder? Because God hate frivolous celebrations! There are several flaws in this Christmas concept celebrations! By the cunning devices of the ‘enemy’, birthday celebrations has entered into the body of Christ!
Repent of it, come out from this world of deceit and confusion! And be a kingdom-minded person! “This Gospel of the Kingdom…..” Christmas celebration is not part and cannot be part of the Saving Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Reason # 6: Why Christmas is Non-Christian: Satan’s Trap Used to Allure Believers back into his devilish eternal Doom with Sin-Tainted Vessels, Spots in their Garments!
God’s Word says; “Your ways are not my ways and your thoughts are not my thoughts…” (Is 55: 8, 9). His thoughts are higher than ours!
There’s only One Way – Jesus Christ! Travel on His Way, not the ‘Broad-way’, that leads to eternal hell fire, destruction! Look for the ‘Narrow Way’. You will find it and get back on track, because BROAD is the way and there are MANY people – very religious, on that road, heading to destruction! That’s not your portion!
It does not matter whether you get your prophecies and your dreams coming through or not! You can boast of several so called blessings and miracles coming out of your life! Yes, Satan with his demons can prophesy, do miracles! God allowed every material blessings at your disposal! See pagans prospering?
Satan took Jesus to the highest pinnacle, showed Him all the beauties of the world, but requested only ONE thing from Him, “Worship” me, Satan demanded, then all the world is yours! (Matt 4)
On that day, God will audibly say to you “I NEVER KNEW YOU…” Why? Because you failed to love Him with all your heart! You choose to love the world and the things that are in the world! (1 John 2: 15-17) You spend your time, money, strength, wisdom, knowledge on pleasurable things on which your heart has been glued to instead of showing compassion to the needy, the less privileged and the homeless! Yet you spend huge sums of money holding and celebration of Christmas parties!
Don’t follow the mixed multitude! Be ye separated unto the Living God – The Soon-coming LORD and Saviour, Jesus Christ!
You may say, yes, this is exactly what we do during Xmas (short-form) period! You can do this without waiting for the next December 25 which is associated with Pagan festivities!
Calculate the amount of money spent on dresses, drinks, ‘Xmas’ trees, gifts, travel expenses, etc. during so called Christmas festivities! Ask yourself, who exchanged gifts in the Bible when Christ was born? Among others, ‘gifts’ blinded the eyes of the wise and pervert the words of the righteous” (Exodus 23: 8; Deut. 16: 19)
Take away the ‘Xmas’ tree, ‘gifts’, human-invented ‘father Christmas’ from your Christmas celebration, what else do you have? BE WISE and submit to the leadership and LORDSHIP of the Chief Shepherd of your soul! You’re going to be accountable to Him very soon! Where will you spend eternity? Ask yourself!
God blesses those who hear His word and do it! (Luke 11: 28; (1 John 2: 47-49) ) Jesus Christ gave His life for you so you can inherit eternal life! (John 3: 16-18)
Christ questions you, “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?! (Luke 6: 46-49)
Become His friend today by Loving and abiding in His Word! (John 15: 5, 14)
The Creator, God Almighty is not a celebrated God! AWAKE! (Read 1 Samuel 15: 22, 23)
Reason # 7 - Why Christmas is Non-Christian: Perhaps you don’t know, Christmas has its Roots from Paganism!
“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” (Col. 2: 8) Purpose: “so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.” (1 Corinthians 2: 5)
The question is, if Jesus did never celebrate Christmas and the Apostles did not; if there is no mention of christmas in the Bible and Jesus was not born on December 25th as we have proved, and you know it, how then did christmas come about and what is the true origin and significance of christmas? Finally, how does it crawl into the Church?
The answer to this may be baffling and hardly believable, but indeed true: Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church!
The Origin of Christmas
Before one gets carried away with Christmas worship, there are a few things you should know.
Let's take an honest and objective look at the origins of this holiday.
We read in Werner Keller's book The Bible as History the following admission:
"December 25 is referred to in documents as Christmas Day in A.D. 324 for the first time. Under the Roman emperor Justinian [A.D. 527-565] it was recognized as an official holiday. An old Roman festival played a major part in the choice of this particular day. December 25 in ancient Rome was the 'Dies Natali Invictus,' 'the birthday of the unconquered,' the day of the winter solstice and at the same time, in Rome, the last day of the Saturnalia, which had long since degenerated into a week of unbridled carnival..." (p. 331).
Doesn't it seem rather strange that the so-called "Christian church" should choose a day to celebrate the Messiah's birth which was identified as the day of the birth of the unconquered sun, the day of the winter solstice, the "shortest day of the year," when the sunlit part of the days start becoming longer again? What does this have to do with the Messiah, anyway? Was Yeshua the Messiah born anywhere near December 25?
Keller goes on: "Meteorologists as well as historians and astronomers have something of importance to contribute to this question of fixing the date of the birth of Jesus.
According to St. Luke: 'And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night' (Luke 2:8).
Geographically, “at Christmas-time Bethlehem is in the grip of frost, and in the Promised Land no cattle would have been in the fields in that temperature. This fact is born out by a remark in the Talmud to the effect that in that neighborhood the flocks were put out to grass in March and brought in again at the beginning of November. They remained out in the open for almost eight months.
"Around Christmas-time nowadays both animals and shepherds are under cover in Palestine.
"What St. Luke tells us points therefore to the birth of Jesus having taken place BEFORE the onset of winter..."
How interesting! How fascinating! As we explore the time for the birth of the Messiah, we find he was born nowhere near December 25, the very date the world has chosen to "celebrate" supposedly, his "birthday"! But there is much more to the story than this. Let's go on…..
When Was Yeshua (Jesus) Really BORN?
Millions of ostensible "Christians," or "nominal" Christians, who think they are followers of the religion of Yeshua the Messiah, have been deceived. Not only have they foolishly embraced erroneous "traditions" as if they were "Christians," but they have been lied to, misled by preachers and ministers and priests, and have ASSUMED that they were worshipping the Messiah! Yet Yeshua the Messiah Himself warned: "Howbeit IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, teaching for doctrines THE COMMANDMENTS OF MEN. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye HOLD THE TRADITION OF MEN..." (Mark 7:7-8).
The gospel of Matthew also records similar words spoken by the Messiah. Notice! "Ye HYPOCRITES, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, 'This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouths, and honoreth me with their lips; but THEIR HEART IS FAR FROM ME. But IN VAIN do they WORSHIP me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of MEN" (Matthew 15:7-9). Why did Jesus made this remarks? Simple, the majority of those celebrating Christmas are God haters! Most of them even believe in Jesus as God our Saviour!
Let's look into this matter honestly. Let's examine the evidence, seeking the truth. When was Yeshua the Messiah born, anyway? Was it anywhere NEAR December 25? And if not, then why believe a lie, and practice and perform a lie?
The birth of the Messiah is not known for certain, not even by the highest or the oldest religious leaders!
So, the big question is, who was born on December 25?
Beloved, this will shock you!
If Yeshua the Messiah was not born on December 25, who was? In other words, whose birthday is the whole "Christian world" really celebrating on December 25, though they call it the birth of "Christ"? Or, to put it another way, what "Christ" are they talking about? The word "Christ," is the translation of the Greek word Christos, which literally means "Anointed One“! It comes from the Hebrew word Moshiach, from whence we get the word "Messiah." So what "anointed one" was born on December 25?
Let us take out our magnifying glass, and like Sherlock Holmes, do some careful detective work, and see if we can solve the mystery -- the puzzle of why the whole world observes the birthday of Yeshua the Messiah on a day on which he was not even remotely born! In the book History of Rome, by Michael Grant, we read this startling revelation:
"Yet there was also another pagan belief during this same epoch, that much more nearly competed with Christ for the control of the Western world. This was the cult of the Sun, which was revered by millions of the inhabitants of the Roman Empire, and its religion for a time even became the state worship....
"In Rome, the divinity of the Sun came very early on; and then, centuries afterwards, in the superb dome of Hadrian's Pantheon, the central opening, surrounded by star-like rosettes, represented the solar orb....Before long, the emperor Aurelian established a massive temple of the Unconquerable Sun as the central and focal point of the entire religious system of the state (274). The birthday of the ‘god’ was to be on DECEMBER 25, AND THIS, TRANSFORMED INTO CHRISTMAS DAY, WAS ONE OF THE HERITAGES THAT CHRISTIANITY OWED TO HIS CULT" (p. 391- 392, emphasis mine).
Notice! Christianity took over the birthday of the sun god, the cult of the sun, and transformed it into CHRISTMAS DAY, the "birthday" of Yeshua the Messiah! It was in reality the birth day of the pagan sun god, worshipped by millions throughout the Roman Empire!
We read more about this novel and profound "plot" to turn paganism into "Christianity" in a book by historian Jack Finegan, Myth & Mystery: An Introduction to the Pagan Religions of the Biblical World. Finegan writes:
"...But the worship of the sun-god continued widely throughout the empire, and under Aurelian (A.D. 270-275) the cult was restored to its former high estate. In the year 274 Aurelian declared the god -- now called Deus Sol Invictus -- the official deity of the Roman Empire; he built a splendid temple of the sun in Rome...and set the sun's birthday celebration (naturalis solis invicti) ON DECEMBER 25, the date then accepted for the winter solstice (also in his solar character the BIRTHDAY OF MITHRAS). In the time of Constantine the cult of Deus Sol Invictus was still at its height, and the portrait of the sun-god was on the coins of Constantine....Likewise it must have been in this time and with the intent to transform the significance of AN EXISTING SACRED DATE that the birthday of Jesus, which had been celebrated in the East on January 6...was placed in Rome ON DECEMBER 25, THE DATE OF THE BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION OF SOL INVICTUS. This date appears in a list of dates probably compiled in A.D. 336 and published in the Roman city calendar, edited by Filocalus, for the year 354" (Finegan, p. 211-212, emphasis mine).
Are we beginning to get the picture? This was in the fourth century AFTER the Messiah! At this time, the Church moved to incorporate the birthday of the sun god into the so-called "Christian" calendar, and converted his "birth day" into the birth day of THE MESSIAH himself! That which was distinctly and definitely pagan now was "baptized," and by some act of "magic" was transformed into something "Christian"! At least, to the observer, it appeared to be "Christian." It was now called "Christian." But in truth, it still had a pagan heart and core!
The Influence of Constantine
When Constantine became Emperor of Rome, he nominally at least became a "Christian." But being the head of a far-flung political Empire, he was concerned about the unity and coherence and stability of his Empire. As a sagacious politician, he sought to reconcile and blend and mesh pagan practices with "Christian" beliefs, to merge paganism with the Roman church. Constantine promulgated the "Edict of Toleration" in A.D. 313.
He became emperor in A.D. 323, and "then Christianity was enthroned" (Jesse Lyman Hurlbut, The Story of the Christian Church, p. 74). From this time, for the next two hundred years, all persecutions of Christians of the Roman church, and its adherents, ceased. The sword of persecution was "not merely sheathed; it was buried" (ibid., p. 75).
But Jesse Hurlbut laments the results of Constantine's making Christianity the state religion, free from all persecution. From that time, he points out, the church became totally subverted by politics and self-seeking opportunists. "...the establishment of Christianity as the state religion became a CURSE.
"Everybody sought membership in the church, and nearly everybody was received. Both good and bad, sincere seekers after God and hypocritical seekers after gain, rushed into the communion. Ambitious, worldly, unscrupulous men sought office in the church for social and political influence....
'The services of worship increased in splendor, but were less spiritual and hearty than those of former times. The forms and ceremonies of PAGANISM GRADUALLY CREPT INTO THE WORSHIP. Some of the OLD HEATHEN FEASTS BECAME CHURCH FESTIVALS WITH CHANGE OF NAME AND OF WORSHIP" (Hurlbut, The Story of the Christian Church, p. 79, emphasis mine). How did it happen? Obviously, something strange and weird was going on!
Will Durant, renowned historian, in his massive work The Story of Civilization, wrote in volume III, entitled Caesar and Christ, that in the new "church" that developed in the Roman Empire, the Jewishness of Yeshua was lost or rejected, and replaced with Greek philosophy and thought; the "Law" of the Jews was rejected, and, he writes,
"...the god Christ was assimilated to the religious and philosophical traditions of the Hellenistic mind. Now the PAGAN WORLD -- even the anti-Semitic world -- could accept him as its own.
"CHRISTIANITY DID NOT DESTROY PAGANISM, IT ADOPTED IT. The Greek mind, dying, came to a transmigrated life in the theology and liturgy of the Church...the Greek mysteries passed down into the impressive mystery of the Mass. Other PAGAN cultures contributed to the syncrestic result. From Egypt came the idea of a divine trinity...from Egypt the adoration of the Mother and Child...From Phrygia came the worship of the Great Mother....The Mithraic ritual so closely resembled the eucharistic sacrifice of the Mass that Christian fathers charged the Devil with inventing these similarities to mislead frail minds. Christianity was the last great creation of the ancient PAGAN world" (p. 595).
These historical observations ought to make us sit up and take notice! The 'Christianity" that we see around us in the world today is but a "spin-off" of this ancient syncretism or 'blending" and "merging" of PAGANISM into the professed Church of Yeshua the Messiah, which had lapsed into political apostasy, profligacy and impurity. The descendants of the once chaste and pure virgin of the Messiah, the New Testament Church, had seemingly become, for all intends and purposes, the religious W***E of Babylon -- a bejeweled and bedecked and bedeviled slt and trollop, a "shady lady," a spiritual PR******TE!
"Paganism" was not defeated by the Church. It invaded the church, infiltrated it, and seduced it from within! The professing Christian Church became the "new face of paganism"! Only the "names" were changed. And in some cases -- as in "Easter" Sunday -- even the old pagan names were left in place!
H. G. Wells, in his Outline of History, discusses the transformation of the teachings of the Messiah into the pagan worship of the heathen, calling itself "Christian." He notes:
"The observance of the Jewish Sabbath, again, TRANSFERRED TO THE MITHRAIC SUN-DAY, is an important feature of many Christian cults...He [Jesus] did not say a word about the worship of his mother Mary in the guise of ISIS, THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN. Much that is most characteristically Christian [so-called] in worship and usage, he ignored. Skeptical writers have had the temerity to deny that Jesus can be called a Christian at all" (p. 445, emphasis mine, of course).
How did this happen? How did Mithraism, with its December 25 worship, and Sun-day worship, contribute these prominent "holidays" to the established "Christian" Church? How did paganism overtake, overcome, and subdue, the original teachings of the Church of Yeshua the Messiah, and his apostles, and replace Biblical holy days with pagan "holy days"? Should all true Christians be concerned about this historic truth -- this reality? Doesn't it really matter?
What should these facts mean to us, today, who seek to obey YEHOVAH God, and follow the Messiah of the Bible, who seek to be TRUE followers of the Word of YEHOVAH GOD?
The Seduction of the Church
Admits the Worldbook Encyclopedia, "The exact date of Christ's birth is not known. The early Christians did NOT celebrate His birth, because they considered the celebration of anyone's birth to be a pagan custom. The first mention of the observance of Christ's birthday appears about A.D. 200. For many years, several dates were used. December 25 was first mentioned in 336" (article "Christmas").
This common reference work acknowledges, "For many years, people observed Christmas as a religious festival only. But they GRADUALLY ADOPTED MORE AND MORE CUSTOMS UNRELATED TO THE CHURCH. Most of the customs originated in cultures that existed before Christianity....In 1643, the Puritans, who regarded such celebrations as pagan, outlawed the observance of Christmas in England." Colonists in New England followed the English laws and also outlawed Christmas. But immigrants to the New World brought Christmas customs from many lands and the old festivities where soon restored.
All of the popular customs and traditions surrounding Christmas actually were celebrated at pagan mid-winter festivals thousands of years before the Messiah was born. Admits this same encyclopedia, "The custom of burning the Yule log began with the ancient Scandinavians, who once a year burned a huge log in honor of their god Thor. After the Scandinavians became Christians [sic], they made the Yule log an important part of their Christmas ceremonies."
To be continued:
